Life After Death Through the Eyes of a Child
by JoHnNy CaStLe
Summary: She looked just like him. It was like seeing a ghost from the past. She was about nine, she looked innocent. She said her name was Grace, and I want to talk to her, I want to know her, I want to make up for lost time...
1. My best friend is dead

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Stand by Me, I only own my Katelyn. I know that part makes me sad too... I also do not own Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day... It's Boss!

Summary: Gordie goes to his friend's grave a few days after his funeral, and meets someone unexpected while he's there.

**My Best Friend is Dead**

_I'm not gonna cry. I swore to myself that I wouldn't cry. What would Chris say?_ Gordie could almost see his friends face, his cocked eyebrows, his lips moving, _That's Pussy. That's what he would say. That it was pussy to cry._ Gordie rubbed his eyes, and silently wondered if Chris had ever read one of his books. He silently wondered if Chris had seen that his prediction had come true, he was a great writer.

Gordie fell to his knees in front of the graves, he could feel his insides ripping, his eyes stinging. He was breathing in short raspy breaths as he ran his finger over thet letters on the grave.

_Chris Chambers_

_Friend._

_Husband._

_Lawyer._

_Peacemaker._

_Father._

_Father?_ Gordie almost said this thought outloud. He bent to get a better look, "He had a child?" he finally asked out loud, as though Chris would pop up out of the grave and tell him the whole story.

"Yeah. He did." Gordie heard, and he turned around quickly, wiping his eyes. He wasn't going to have anyone calling him a pussy. His eyes met a girl, she looked about 9, holding a bouqet of yellow roses, "He had a daughter, her name is Grace. She's nine. Everyone says she looked just like him." At the last sentence the little girl began to cry. Her hair was short and dirty blond, falling to her shoulders, and her eyes were Chris's eyes.

This surprised Gordie more than anything else. This little girl, Grace, was Chris's daughter, and she had burst out crying like it was nothing. For some reason he guessed her personality took after her mother. Fat sparkling tears made their way down from her big, sad, blue eyes. "Who are you?" Grace asked, once her crying had ceased considerably.

"Gordie LaChance. And you're probably Grace Chambers... right?" Gordie replied, standing up. The girl reached only up to his waist, being a very small little girl. Her hair was curly and pulled up halfway with a blue ribbon, and a blue dress adorned her tiny figure.

"Yeah." Grace said with a nod, "LaChance?" she asked after a short pause, "My dad used to talk about you a lot. He really liked you, said you were best friends." She looked like she was going to cry again, and Gordie told himself silently that he wouldn't let her do that, as it would attract a lot of attention.

"Did he talk about anyone else?" Gordie asked quickly, bending down so he was at her height.

Grace nodded, "Yes, some crazy guy named Teddy and a kid named Vern." She said, then smiled, "He told me about the leeches, and the body, and Ace, and everything. You guys are heroes."

Gordie felt a light pink tinge coming up to her cheeks, "The guys in Vietnam are heroes, the guys who fight fires are heroes, four twelve year old boys are not heroes." He said, but at the same time, he felt proud that Chris's little girl was complimenting him, he felt privileged somehow.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you look like your father?" Gordie asked, sitting down in front of the little girl.

Grace took this as a que and sat down in front of Gordie, "Yeah, a lot of people tell me that... but I think they're just saying it to make me feel better... do I really?" she asked, looking up at Gordie with sparkling eyes.

Gordie nodded, "Yeah, did your father ever tell you about the time he saved our friend Teddy's life?" he asked, leaning back on his hands.

Grace shook her head, crossing her legs Indian Style and looking at Gordie intently, "Go on! Tell me!" she said excitedly.

A/N: This is basically a preview to show what this story is going to be. Please review to say if I should or should not continue this. The next chapter would be Gordie telling the story.


	2. I see him through your eyes

Disclaimer: Thanks for reminding me... I don't own anyone... but I may have stolen them...

A/N: Thank you to reviewers, and to answer your question, Chris's family does know that Grace is there.

**I see His Eyes through You...**

"There was this giganto tree in the schoolyard, right? We, meaning your father, me, Teddy, and Vern, wanted to climb it all the way to the top. So the four of us, with Chris leading, began to climb the tree." Gordie started, watching Grace's expression as he did so.

Her eyes were fixed on Gordie, and she looked like she was concentrating on the story, trying to picture it in her mind. Gordie immediately had a rather comical thought of Grace in her own mind, pushing through unicorns and dolls to see four boys climbing a big tree, and he almost laughed.

"Teddy went up first without any hesitation, holding his thick black glasses in his hand, then Chris went up right behind him, stabling himself on the thin branches that lined the tree, then I went, and Vern was behind me. Vern was always the one who was scare to do anything, and I felt kind of bad for the kid, after all, who likes being labeled as a pussy forever right?"

Grace nodded, "Go on Mr. LaChance." She said, and Gordie winced at his formal name, "Call me Gordie... alright?" he asked, and Grace nodded again, so he went on.

"'Come on you guys!' Teddy yelled back at us, you see, he was already at the top, and Chris was right behind him, but I had no arm strength, so I was a little sluggish. Teddy sat at the exact top of the tree, a huge grin on his face, and Chris sat on a branch below him, I was still climbing, and Vern was behind me.

My hands were rubbed raw from the scratchy bark and all the pine needles, and this tree must've been at least twenty feet tall."

At this visual Grace's eyes widened, and she uttered a small 'Wow' before urging Gordie on with her eyes.

"So once I got to the branch across from Chris, Vern sat on the branch below me, and we were all laughing and having a jolly old time at our feat of climbing this big tree... until we looked down." Gordie paused and chuckled a little, before he went on, "Teddy pulled out a cigarette and started smoking, which brought the rest of us to do the same, but we were all scared out of our wits of the hard ground below us. I think it was Vern who was the first one to talk, he said 'This is boss and all, but how do we get down?' and I just looked at Chris, who shrugged a little and said 'I guess we climb down...' he even put his foot down on a lower branch as if he were about to start, that was the first time I ever saw Chris even a little scared.

'Oh shit you guys are pussies, we just jump!' I heard from above me, and I looked up only to see Teddy flying forward from the top of the tree, screaming. Chris got this sort of weird look on his face and put and arm out to grab his shirt, and all of us were breathin' real heavy.

'What are you doin' Chambers? I could've landed on my feet you son of a bitch! I could've done it! What are you doin'?' Teddy was yellin' and Chris was yellin' back and me and Vern were climbing down just to make sure that the tree didn't snap in half. 'You want me to drop you Teddy? Do you want to die here and now? Don't you want to die like a soldier?' Chris said, and Teddy was silent, and he stopped squirming, and he reluctantly let your dad bring him down to the ground, where he promptly dropped him and walked home in a huff.

I guess he was made and didn't want to say anything he would regret later. Boy, Teddy was mad, the whole way home he was cursing under his breath, but later, Teddy took Chris aside and thanked him. He never apologized, but Chris just thumped his shoulder and smiled.

Teddy was always getting in some kind of trouble. He'd jump in front of trains, and he'd pick fights with guys four times the size of him, and Chris always got him out." It took Gordie a second to realize that he was crying. His eyes were stinging and he felt a pricking at the back of his neck. He turned away and rubbed his eyes, not quite ready to face the small nine year old in front of him.

In a second, Gordie realized that Grace was crying as well, she was sniffling, sitting there pitifully, just looking at the large gray slab with her father's name on it. For a while, the two just sat there, remembering things, just sitting there. And soon, Gordie had pulled Grace onto his lap and had rubbed his eyes until they were dry, "Do you have any stories?" he asked Grace, and she nodded solemnly.

"I do have one…" she said, sniffling some more, and she began her story…

A/N: Alright, I wrote another chapter. The next chapter is going to be Grace's story… I think that the next few chapters are going to be them remembering, review and tell me if you wouldn't read that.


	3. He's just brave like that

A/N: This is chapter three, I am guessing right now that this is going to be, at the least, about fifteen chapters when it's done... hope you enjoy this chapter! If anyone wants any tie-ins with their stories just either review or send me a PM

Disclaimer: Nope, still nothing... Chris is hiding in my closet though... I may have stole him from Steven king, but don't tell people.

**He's Just Brave Like That**

Ignoring the rather large lump in her throat, Grace decided to tell a story, one only she and her father knew, and now she was telling Gordie. "My dad's always been brave, but he's never been more brave then this time, in my opinion anyway..." she said, then, she began her story, while Gordie watched her intently, "You must've known my Uncle Richard... right? You may know him as Eyeball." She said, and when Gordie nodded, she went on, "Well, he showed up, out of the blue, at our house a few months ago. He was drunk, and babbling on and on about how sorry he was, and my dad just sat there, and he listened.

My dad brought Eyeball to the couch and sat him down, I don't know if he knew that I was sitting at the top of the stairs, I think he might've, but I'm not sure. My dad just nodded, while Eyeball went on, and I would've socked him right there.

'I'm sorry for all the shit I did when we were kids. I'm sorry I let Ace almost kill you, I'm sorry I kept calling you and your friends girls, I'm sorry I took that kid's hat. I didn't want to Chris, but Ace was a scary guy Chris, you know that, he was scary.' And he kept going on, 'I'm sick Chris, real sick, I think it's somethin' with my liver. I don't want to die, I'm not ready Chris, I ain't ready yet. I haven't met my nieces and nephews, I haven't done a whole mess of shit. I don't want to die Chris.'

He was crying now, I thought that he was going to explode, it didn't sound like he took a breath the whole time it was talking. Dad was quiet, he just sat there and rubbed Eyeball's shoulder, rubbed his shoulder until he fell asleep. Eyeball started snoring, and I walked down the stairs towards my dad.

My dad was crying Gordie, he was sitting there, with his head in his hands, and he was crying. At first I thought he was laughing at his brother, but when he sniffed and looked up at me, I knew that he had been crying the whole time that Eyeball was talking.

Seein' my dad cry like that, I thought I was going to puke. I started crying, and my dad just put his arms out and pulled me to him, and we both cried together. I still don't know why I was crying, I didn't even know Eyeball yet, but I knew that when my dad cried, it ripped my heart in half." Grace paused and wiped her eyes, she had started crying again, and was leaning into Gordie,

"Eyeball died three weeks later, and he got to meet me, and he even played some checkers with me a few times. I cried when he died, but my dad, he didn't shed a tear, he just stood there in his black suit at his funeral, his hand on my shoulder. I near screamed looking at him, because he looked like that for weeks. I can't even explain how helpless looked, he just looked like he lost his best friend, even though his brother did all those crappy things to him.

When I asked him about it, he sort of half smiled at me and said, 'Your

brother's all you got Gracie, if you had a brother, you'd understand.' That confused me... but I think I get it now." When Grace looked up, Gordie was nodding solemnly, "I only saw your father cry once." He said, and Grace looked at him, as if waiting for him to say the story.

A/N: Aren't you glad I updated so fast? It's basically going to be that part in the movie by the tree, but what Gordie's thinking and everything.


	4. When adults do wrong

Disclaimer: Okay, so now Ace and Eyeball are stuffed under my bed, is it illegal to be obsessed? But I still don't own anyone... Sadly...

A/N: Okay, this is the night under the tree, from Gordie's point of view...

**When Adults Do Wrong**

"Alright Gracie... here's my story." Gordie said, and Grace smiled, the only people who had ever called her Gracie were her father and Eyeball, and it felt good to hear her nickname again.

"The four of us, me, Chris, Teddy, and Vern, were sitting around the campfire, right? We were talking about all different things, the type of things that felt important when we were twelve, you know what I mean?" and when Grace nodded, Gordie went on with his story, "Soon, we were all dead asleep, dreaming of something or other, probably the body, but I don't remember. The next thing I know, I hear some howling in the woods, I hear Vern whimpering, and Teddy is saying something about goin' to find some ghost. Chris is on his knees next to me, his .45 in his hand.

I scrambled to my knees next to him, my eyes must've looked like a deer in headlights, 'What is it Chris?' I asked your dad, and he held the gun up so that the barrel was pointing to the sky.

Vern was going on and on about promising not to do things, but I wasn't really listening, all I could hear was that howling. It sounded like a woman screaming, and when I told the guys that, Teddy shook his head and said,

'It's his ghost, wandering out in the woods.' And then stood up. You dad told him to sit back down, but Teddy said 'No, I want to see the ghost. I just want to see what it looks like!' and he started to walk towards the woods, but a howl came so loud, that he fell backwards, just like the rest of us, and huddled with us in fear.

We just sat there for a while, then someone suggested that we take turns being guards. Teddy held his hand out and asked for the gun, and Chris gave it to him, so it was Teddy's turn to stand guard.

Personally, I don't think that worked too well, because he spent the whole time talking. Most of it was about war stuff, and we all got aggravated, so it was Vern's turn on guard. This was better, but not by much, 'cause Vern pointed the gun at every sound he heard. I kept hearing the twigs cracking under his feet, and the scared moans he was making.

Soon, it was your father's turn. I was asleep, and I had this bizarre dream."

Gordie said, then pause as Grace looked up at him with curiosity. "I'd rather not talk about it Gracie, that's another story for another time." Grace nodded, not saying a word, so Gordie went on, "When I woke up, your father was sitting next to me, poking at the fire with a stick, 'You okay?' was all he asked, I didn't answer him, 'I didn't cry at Denny's funeral' was all I said, Denny was my brother by the way." When Gracie nodded, Gordie began again, "'I miss him Chris... I really miss him...' I told your dad, and your dad nodded knowingly, 'I know.' He said. I dunno how he knew, I never really talked to anyone about it, so how anyone can know is beyond me... but he did, 'Go back to sleep.' He told me, like I was a little kid. That got me a little mad, him always treating me like I was little... he ever do that to you?"

Grace nodded, "Yeah..." she said, and then poked Gordie's arm, "Go on Mr. Gordie." She said, she was sitting in front of him now. The last time Gordie had seen eyes like Grace's, listening intently to his stories were over ten years ago, when he was telling Chris of his stories, and how he was going to publish them one day. "So I crawled up and sat next to your dad, and we started talking. Your dad, he stole some milk money back in the day... from the school." Grace's face dropped, she looked down at the ground, Gordie could see the cloud she was holding her father on was falling, so he quickly fixed what he said, "But he tried to give it back." He said quickly, and Grace looked back up at him, "The teacher, she took the money, said your father never gave her any money, and he got suspended. Mrs. Simons, she spent the money on herself, and Chris found this unfair, but he didn't say anything to anyone...

Who would've believed him? Like he said, he was from a bad family, and everyone judged him on it. He started to cry, and his face turned red. I don't think he meant to cry in front of me, and for some reason, it seemed like he was surprised himself. Like he had never cried before, I had seen Chris whipped with a belt on his bare ass... oops... sorry." Grace rolled her eyes and Gordie kept going, "and not wince at all, but now he was crying like a baby. I thought that he was going pussy, I thought that men didn't cry, but then I realized that he should've been crying... an adult had let him down, and he was sad, and surprised." Gordie had finished his story, and Grace nodded, taking his story in one piece at a time.

"So he tried to give the lunch money back?" she asked, her eyes widening slightly, her heart was inflating, "I knew he wouldn't steal anything..." she added, then she sighed heavily, and the two were silent for a couple of minutes.

"My dad was a great guy." Grace said finally, and Gordie nodded.


End file.
